SSC CGL, CHSL, MTS & GD Photo and Signature Size: Complete Upload Specifications & Dimension Guide

Official SSC Photo & Signature Requirements

Every year, hundreds of thousands of aspirants face application rejection in Staff Selection Commission (SSC) exams—including SSC CGL, CHSL, MTS, CPO, and Constable GD—due to non-compliant photograph and signature uploads. The Staff Selection Commission enforces strict automated image parsing algorithms that reject files exceeding file size boundaries, lacking adequate face coverage, or featuring illegible signatures.

According to the latest SSC examination notices, your uploaded photograph must clearly show your facial features from the front without caps, sunglasses, or heavy shadows. Both ears must be visible, and the background must be plain white or very light-colored.

SSC Specifications Quick Reference Table

New SSC Portal Rules: Live Photo vs Uploaded Image

On the upgraded SSC official portal (ssc.gov.in), the commission introduced a dual verification process:

• Live Photo Capture: Captured directly using your phone's front camera or laptop webcam during the One-Time Registration (OTR) / application filling session. Ensure you sit in front of a white wall under adequate lighting.
• Scanned Signature Upload: You must upload a scanned JPEG file of your running signature between exactly 10 KB and 20 KB.

For exams requiring physical uploaded passport photographs, ensure the photo was captured within the last three months prior to the notification date.

Strict Rules for SSC Signature Upload

The Staff Selection Commission will summarily cancel candidatures if the signature violates any of these clauses:

1. No Capital Letters / Block Letters: The signature must be in running handwriting. Signatures written in all CAPITAL letters (e.g., "RAHUL KUMAR") are strictly rejected.
2. White Background Only: Sign on an unruled, spotless white A4 sheet. Do not use lined notebooks, ruled paper, or patterned surfaces.
3. High Contrast Ink: Use a dark black or dark blue ballpoint pen or gel pen. Avoid light ink, pencil, or red ink.
4. Aspect Ratio: The image must maintain a horizontal ratio of roughly 2:1 (width 4.0 cm × height 2.0 cm).

How to Resize Your Photo to 20KB-50KB Without Quality Loss

Standard smartphone cameras produce photos ranging from 3 MB to 12 MB with resolutions above 4000 × 3000 pixels. Directly lowering quality in generic tools causes pixelation, leading to unreadable facial features. Here is how to achieve crisp clarity within 35 KB:

1. Crop First: Crop the photo to a 3.5:4.5 vertical ratio, keeping your head centered and covering 70-80% of the vertical frame.
2. Target Resolution: Resize dimensions to 350 × 450 pixels. At this dimension, a JPEG requires only ~30-40 KB to retain 100% visual fidelity.
3. Use Client-Side Canvas Compression: Use the SolveKits Exam Photo Resizer. It runs locally inside your browser, locking exact target KB without uploading sensitive identity photos to third-party servers.

Top 5 SSC Application Rejection Reasons

• Wearing Spectacles or Glasses: Even transparent power glasses can reflect camera flash, obscuring eye pupils and triggering automated rejection. Remove glasses before photographing.
• Tilted or Side Angles: Selfies taken from high or low angles or with tilted neck are invalid. Both eyes and ears must face the lens horizontally.
• Signatures Under 10 KB or Over 20 KB: The SSC submission script immediately blocks files under 9.99 KB or above 20.01 KB.
• Blurry Thumbnails: Compressing a photo to 20 KB by extreme JPEG downscaling without dimension scaling makes the image unusable on admit cards.
• Dark or Patterned Background: Shadows cast behind the head on textured walls will fail automated backdrop detection.